The next few days settled into a bit of a routine for Jack and his party. After a hearty breakfast that the whole group of twelve ate together, they departed the village, leaving Alonso and his group behind to tend to their quickly developing garden, while the rest hunted for more and more monster packs, always heading in the direction they found the monster base, moving slightly more and more in one direction to find the place all those monsters came up the cliff.

  On their second day, Chiyo finally received her own weapon as well, their entire group now having their offensive needs covered. With that done, and his main priority and responsibility dealt with, he could now focus more on things more important for him. By now, his group believed that his speciality was weapons, as evidenced by the sheer variety that he had created, all at epic quality as well. Sword and shield for Kenji, a chime to elevate her casting for Kaede, the quill to help Emi with her contracts and casting, a katana for Izumi, sword and buckler for Fumiko, eventually to be replaced by a sword set and finally a bow with self replenishing quiver for Chiyo. The latter was damn near ecstatic at the realization she did not have to scrounge for each and every arrow she ever shot, worried all the time she would run out after one too many broke from constant use. It was quite the sight to see, the usually calm and collected girl to jump and hug Jack from happiness. She did quickly reign in her overly happy display of emotions and after clearing her throat she thanked him calmly as if nothing had happened just moments before. Not to forget jack's own gundao as well. The weapon felt like one an executioner would wield, and after reading it's description they nodded with understanding and acceptance.

  And so, with free reign of his own time and item choice when it came to crafting, Jack went for the obvious choice, at least as far as he could reason. Thus, on their fifth day, jack could be seen walking around with nine of fingers adorned with simple looking rings. Anyone with appraisal ability at rare or higher level could identify said rings as 'Virtuoso's personal collection 1 through 9(rare)', with each ring providing either plus one to strength or vitality, with the last one giving plus one to both, the full set resulting in a whooping plus five to both stats. Of course, the rings actually gave no increase at all, only serving as a perfect excuse for his higher than reasonable status, something his group knew about already, having witnessed his fight against the chaos orc when he did not have those rings. Jack had no issues telling the truth to his party either, no one interested in displaying Jack's full capabilities for others to comprehend. He was kept as a special last retort trump card, only to be used if everything else goes to shit.

  Even during their forays into the forest to hunt for more experience and materials, Jack was kept out of battles more and more, with the kids getting better with each engagement with enemies. They were seriously practising their party play without Jack there, already honing themselves in preparation of what was to come after the tutorial. The constant fighting and the much smaller party size, combined with the thirty percent increase in experience earned from Jack's gear, the kids had also grown in level in the last few days, with most of them reaching level ten. Jack, being the beneficiary of his class skills as well as the party experience had even reached level twelve, though even Emi's appraisal was not high enough rarity to discern that, not that it would as his status displayed his Virtuoso class and level ten, just like his party members.

  Clang! Clang! Clang!

  A loud sound kept resounding as Jack raised and then slammed down the pickaxe in his hands, breaking off chunks of semi metallic rock from a protrusion at a rather odd looking cliffs side, the rest of his party delivering the last few killing blows to the remaining few living hobgoblins of the group they had just engaged with.

  "Good job team, as always!" Jack praised them, his actions not stopping as he sneaked words in between the relatively loud clangs resounding in their vicinity.

  "I am almost done here as well and we can head back. Today's haul is indeed great." he smiled as he added, delivering the last few strikes and then proceeding to dematerialise it all, filling his matter storage more and more. Once done with his own haul, he proceeded to clean up the battlefield as well, leaving only puddles of blood behind, neither bodies nor weapons escaped his greedy hands, devouring it all and expanding his forever lacking reserves. There was just too much he wanted to mess around with and his newest skill only further increased his desire to craft, craft and craft some more. There were some pretty neat achievements one could earn from successfully crafting heroic grade items or higher, ones that gave free attribute points at that, similar to how combat classes earned free points by clearing dungeons, not that either was a simple task mind you, one gated behind insanely rare and valuable crafting recipe drops that were one time use and then just as rare and valuable specific resources needed for that particular recipe, while the other was gated behind a hard fought battle after hard fought battle, topped with even harder fought boss battle at the end of the dungeon.

  "Let's head back shall we? I think the time is about there for the village to be out of stuff to share, or did I miscalculate something?" Jack added once he was nice and done with his harvest.

  "No, seems about right by my count as well. That and the scouting parties of the horde are also getting more active, indicating that they might move into next stage at about the same time village goes into its next phase. You think it's by design?" Izumi commented as the group started their return back home. "We might need to fortify our home another level further, can't have some bastards hurt our farmers and home because they feel slighted."

  "Yes, that does sound like a necessity. Alonso did mention something about it a well yesterday. We will put our heads together tomorrow morning right after breakfast. Nice job on teaching the guys back home to cook better Kaede by the way. We all appreciate your effort." Jack responded.

  "It's nothing, and besides, it helps me as well. While true I am not running around and putting much physical effort out here, I do get tired out regardless, so having our meals taken care of when we return and head out is also a boon for me. The slight effort needed to hand over the task and teach them a few bits and pieces here and there is not an issue."

  "Don't worry Kaede, once we are outside the tutorial and have our feet on the ground, I will get ourselves a dedicated cook, that and some spatial rings so you can get more more good stuff back from your journeys, both for me to expand my matter storage amounts and to bring back some plants that might give us more spices to elevate the food yet again. It does have a nice ring to it, does it not? To have high quality restaurant food awaiting you every time you come home. No, higher quality even. With my spices I don't doubt that to be possible, likely even." Jack grinned as he already started making plans for that inevitable happening. Sure, they still had things to deal with, the monster horde being the more pressing matter, but he was just as sure in that working out, if not without him taking major part in the final fight, then with him surely.

  Their hard work past few days seemed to have at least some visible after effects, as the group did not encounter any other monster pack on their way back, clearly the monster horde's leader was tired by now to lose all his scouts and whatnot. The packs now were smaller in quantities, though larger per encounter. It was not rare at all to have twenty to thirty hobgoblins per pack, though the increased numbers did not help much. Kenji's ability to draw monsters and then tank them had skyrocketed, just as parties ability to cut said monsters down, even more so now that they were all properly armed and leveled.

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  The moment the party stepped up to pass through the gate, they were addressed by one of the guards, requesting them to head towards the village chiefs home. A sort of a meeting was formed there with the larger groups all called forth and theirs, while not all that large, with only twelve people total, they were considered among the strongest here as classified by the village chief and that book of his. Rare were cases with more than one, perhaps two people per group reaching level then, unlike Jack's party, where six members had reached that threshold, Jack not including, though he would also be counted there once he would come in village chief's sight. Level ten was when a rather powerful skill was unlocked for each class after all, resulting in their party's reasonable power ranking.

  As expected, the gathering, while conducted near elders house, did not happen inside, the place far too small for the number of people resent when Jack and his group arrived, near hundred people already gathered in a relatively spacious field behind elders home, with the man himself sitting on a chair in the middle of the clearing, surrounded by all the others present. Noticing Jack's group arriving, he cleared his throat and used the staff that had been lying against the chair to hit a bell attached to the top of the chair he was sitting in, creating a sound that stopped all the people present from going on with their conversations and paying attention to the older man.

  "It seems that the last of the people we were expecting have arrived, so we can start with things needed to be discussed and decided upon." The elder spoke, then, after a short pause, continued "The information we received about a large horde of monsters to the east of us has been confirmed true by two other parties here, as such we can no longer pretend the threat does not exist. And, unlike us, the simple folk, you gifted have the skills and tools to do something about the problem. Be it a joint attacks on the camp or anything else you could come up with. We of this village believe in the strength and nobility of your character to save us simple folk from the inevitable attack that is looming over our heads. That's all I wanted to say, thank you all for listening to this old man. Nay your discussions bring forth cooperation and understanding."

  With that, the elder bowed as seemingly deep as his aged body allowed and walked off to return to his home, his aged bones and flesh apparently hurting.

  "Izumi." Jack said in half whisper, though loud enough for his party to hear "You take the lead of representing our party. We don't want a joined offensive. Too risky and dangerous with so many unreliable elements all around us. You know our plan as is. We stick to it."

  What Jack was referring to was their personal plan to deal with the horde, as they had finally found the path down to reach the monsters without dropping on their heads, thus allowing for their atack to finally commence. As they had discussed, they would benefit much more if they could take the remaining forces on themselves, no doubt earning some sort of an achievement for it, likely providing some extra stats should they clear it by themselves, the difficulty serving as a catalyst for it.It was an idea that appealed their entire party, for how could it not? Everyone saw Jack fighting that chaos orc and realized such creatures, stronger even, were no doubt waiting on the other side. Only their own might and superior gear could protect them in the future to come.

  "Okay." Izumi nodded and the group turned their attention towards a guy about thirty something years of age, having walked in the middle and starting to speak, continuing on with what the elder had started. The guy- Francis- was a leader of another group, one of the two that had seen the horde with their own eyes. He explained first about what they saw as they investigated and how much stronger the monster packs were in that particular direction, earning nods of acknowledgement about the fact. Many were aware just how dangerous it was to hunt in that direction and how scarcer animals there were, accompanied with the large number of dangerous monster packs.

  "There were thousands of hobgoblins down in that camp, no doubt preparing for the imminent attack. The only way we can stand a chance is if we band together and make a preemptive attack. Strike them while they are weak or unprepared." he explained then, waiting for agreement from the rest of the people present.

  "And who would lead us then? There is no way such large undertaking could be performed without a singular mindset, only achievable through proper chain of command. And honestly, I don't see anyone here worthy of doing so." another, arrogant voice sounded out from another corner of the small clearing, another man, whose height towered above all, reaching two meters and ten centimeters high, coming in the focus. A large axe was hung on his back, clearly visible from all angles, a choice made to intimidate and keep others away no doubt.

  "I ain't no strategist, but I doubt there is one here either, so your point is moot. The best you can hope for is some sort of coordinated attack where our groups agree to time their attacks to be at the same time and even then, how sure can anyone be the rest will play along? I have heard of scum dragging others away, the poor bastards screaming and kicking. Who's to say their groups will not use the chance to further their wicked goals and pincer us? No. If there is going to be cooperation, those scum must be eliminated first and only then can we wholeheartedly hope to work together." he then looked around, his eyes moving from one group to another. Once done, he continued "And besides that, all I see is a handful of capable people, with plenty of dead weight along. What makes you worthy to work with? Might as well continue as we have so far. It has served us well. Why don't the most of you go out and level up a bit?"

  "My, oh my. Such a big talk coming from a future pet. Why don't you come here so I can properly train you?" a voice came from the distance, one that was familiar to Izumi and her girl companions, approaching the clearing. Soon, everyone's attention was on the group of women flanking a wobbly and seriously fat creature that Jack assumed was supposed to be human.

  "Did you smell something tasty you piece of lard? get lost, there is no place for asylum patients here. Or do you perhaps want my help to cut off some of that fat?" Francis spat back, clearly disgusted with the creature, or Velka as those that had encounter her knew.

  "What's this? Such a large party, and we were not even invited? I feel hurt." another voice, clearly a man from the tone of it sounded out from another side as another, relatively large group of twenty or so men approached, led by blonde guy close to two meters in size, arrogant grin on his face. Jack noticed how the man's eyes darted around, filled with lust and greed and stopped on the prettiest girls in sight for just a few moments.

  Jack did not have to even use his appraisal to to know a scum when he saw one, Hanzo's presence in the group of the blonde guy told all he needed to know. Judging by Hanzo's pleased and content expression, combined with the haughty attitude and arrogance oozing out, Jack's party knew just what kind of people that particular group was. Jack knew more of course, since the last two groups arriving, uninvited Jack assumed, were the ones he had dubbed as 'Feminazis' and 'Ural bastards'.

  "The last two arrivals are both scum. Keep your distance and never go anywhere without the rest of the group, me excluded." Jack immediately spoke to his own party who nodded in understanding.

  "Oh, the bitch is also here? What dragged you inside? Isn't it filled with the stench of men?" The blonde guy laughed as he looked at Velka with disgust.

  "Sometimes I have to suffer to save my lovelies." Velka sneered back. similarly, her eyes darted around, landing on the prettiest girls for a short moment as well. "What does a bastard like you do here though Alexander?"

  "Same thing as you actually. There is no way I can allow for monsters to kill so many lovely ladies." the blonde guy, now identified as Alexander, spoke as he brushed a hand through his hair, a slight pulse of mana, unnoticed by nearly all, emanating from the man.

  'Manipulator huh?' Jack thought, realising what the man was trying to do and responding in a way of his own, sending out a mana pulse of his own, something his insanely high spirit allowed him to do without too much of an issue, counteracting Alexander's attempts at subtle manipulation.

  "Would you look at that, the good, the bad and the ugly, all in one place." Jack hummed as he commented, then glanced around, asking the obvious question to one one n particular but himself. "Huh, but where is the good here exactly?"

  Jack Raja(?)

  Age- 27

  Species- human(?)

  Level- 12

  Class- Twin aspect of Creation and Destruction(EX)

  Stats unassigned: +12

  Attributes:

  Strength- 24 (14+7+3)

  Vitality- 21 (12+7+2)

  Dexterity- 11 (5+6)

  Intelligence-7

  Spirit- 25 (20+5)

  Skills- Wisdom of Creation and destruction(EX), Choice of the creator(EX), Eyes of procurer(EX), Matter storage(EX), Arukain language(C), Spark of inspiration(EX).

  Spells- temporary spatial storage (shrinking)

  Titles(unlocked): The real Monster, Big Game Hunter, The brilliant rookie, The insane Solo.

  Gear: amulet +2 vit: weapon- Gundao+3 str.